Headlines on a newspaper
by black7kunoichi
Summary: Duke Everlue isn't the smartest person alive when it comes to business deals and not knowing who he's dealing with. Especially when the newspapers are always keeping him up to date with the gossip. Modern AU - NALU - ONESHOT


**Headlines**

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**Hi guys,  
So I found this old fic in my deepest documents from back when I first started watching Fairy Tail. Of course, it has been revamped to suit my language 'abilities' now. Hahaha.**

**Disclaimer: b7k does not own Fairy Tail**

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_**DUKE EVERLUE AND HEARTFILIA 12th BRANCH CEO MEET.**_

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It happened a year ago.

Lucy had promised Natsu that she would attend his games. The semi-finals more specifically, it was Fairy Tail against Lamia Scale. As it drawled over to the night, the blonde had waited eagerly to watch his game. It was a new thing for her as she was about to enter the sports arena. Instantly, her sight was filled with confetti and bright lights. Incidentally, the cheer squad had left for a party and wasn't needed for that night – except for finals – so the blonde was free to look around for her best friend.

Because of his connections with the underworld and her status quo in the intelligent and business world, Lucy was led into any place with VIP access. Building up confidence, she immediately spotted her pinkette who was practicing free throws on the court. Hastily, she made her way over to where the team sat right at the front. She didn't dress up too wildly to attend the game, she liked rather to keep it simply casual – therefore, sporting a large over-sized maroon sweater, tucked in a white mini-skirt – emphasizing her voluptuous figure – also wearing white chucks and tying her blonde hair into a high pony tail with maroon ribbons. Then again, it would cause no harm in looking great though.

"Excuse me," The blonde expressed as she squeezed through the front audience. Many eyeing her out with their calculating gazes and hungry eyes from the males. Eventually, she managed to squeeze her way to where the team was sitting without getting noticed by Natsu. After settling down on his spot with the chair clearly marked with "7" in bold black font, she looked at the noisy crowd and smiled at how watching everyone getting hype made her heart beat fast.

A tap on the shoulder.

Her head turned to see a very angry and obese man with his face fused into a bright red at the tip of his ears. The edge of his mustache twirled upwards on the ends. With his gruff appearance, the blonde felt the small squeak of nervousness bubble inside her,

"Who do you think you are? Waltzing into the arena and with the audacity to sit right there," He accused, pointing to where she sat directly in front of the court. "Seems like you're just another rich bitch that thinks she can sit wherever she pleases." With that sentence, Lucy understood what he meant. Of course, she can simply say her name and he would back off, but that wasn't the primary reason why she had this seat – or rather, why she MUST sit in this specific seat.

"Oh – I don't think you understand – it's not like I have a choice – you see, if I don't-"

"Cut the crap. I paid five million jewels, you understand? Five fucking million for a seat that is five rows back. I can't believe that a blonde teen like you could sit where the teams sit. I doubt you even have the money – in fact, you probably fuck-"

"What the hell is going on here?" A nearby man asked, walking to where Lucy sat diligently and the man veering over the rows behind her with his hand on her shoulder gritted his teeth loudly. The newcomer seemed to be the same age as the one making a big fuss – however, Lucy immediately recognized this person as Mest, the security director for the arena. She had only met him once.

"I'll tell you what's going on. This girl just walked in and sat in one of the seats for the players. It must cost a fortune! I doubt she even has the money to pay for such a seat-"The man who came between scanned his eyes over to Lucy. With each passing second, his eyes widened in recognition before reaching over and unclasping the burly mans' grip from Lucy.

"Sir, regardless of what happened, you are not permitted to lay your hands on the girl." The burly man blinked.

"What? Is she fucking you too? Is that why you're being like this?" The man aggressively gripped Lucy's shoulder for only a brief moment before Mest stepped in fully.

"I don't think that's a good idea, sir. You see-"He pushed the man slightly back but a tanned hand reached past Lucy's head and gripped the man by his neck and pulled him to the front. Fingers digging into skin like claws.

"**_Who the fuck do you think are, touching my princess?" _**

Natsu didn't dare to lean down as to eye-level. The big man twitched with the desire to breathe as the deathly grip from the pink-haired teen tightened threateningly. Regardless with the size difference, Natsu had easily wrapped his entire right hand around the man's neck. The brawny man looked at Lucy with pleaded eyes before the blonde reached out and grasped Natsu's arm.

"Stop it, Natsu. He doesn't know." But this went unheard of with her partner, who just glared down to the man. Instead, the pink-haired male pulled the burly man to where he stood behind Lucy. Wanting to breathe, the mans' hands reached up and attempted to push Natsu away, to scramble the deathly grip away from his neck but failed.

"But Luce-" By this point, the face of the burly man had turned dark red. The grip from Natsu's hand had cut off the circulate pumping from his heart to this brain. The corners of his mouth spammed with froth.

"He doesn't know Natsu. If he did, he wouldn't dare to do that. Everyone knows. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding!" Lucy pleaded, worry began to fill her heart.

"Luce!" The crowd finally zoomed into the commotion at the bottom of the courts. The platform screens had them plastered across, showing those at the very top, the situation occurring with their favorite basketball player.

"Natsu. Please." With this, the basketball player dropped his grip on the other male, who had pushed both hands to his chest. Face nearly deathly purple and deep heaving as he gasped for air. Once achieving to breathe normally again, he pointed an accusing finger at Natsu.

"I'll fucking sue you for touching me. Don't you know who I am? Duke Everlue of-"

"Mest." The named male nodded as he understood the silent message and escorted the man away. Not before the man shouted strings of curses in his wake,

"You think I'm scared? You think I'm scared of some punk with pink hair? Huh?! Answer me! Who are you!?"

Natsu watched as Mest finally disappeared with the obese man. The crowd had erupted into a fit of cheers and calls and the game proceeded as scheduled. Not without Natsu grasping Lucy's hands into his and giving her a big smile, and her returning one of her own before the pinkette pulled her from the chair and dragged her to the middle of the court with the embarrassed blonde.

"Listen up!" Natsu yelled, before pulling the shy blonde to the front of him and placing both hands on her shoulder to keep her firmly to the front of him.

"No one touches my princess. If one of you do, I'll see to it to straighten you out. And," He paused, "I'll be the one to make sure you understand that fact."

Meanwhile, down in the security headquarters, Mest finally unlocked the handcuffs around "Duke Everlue" after a stern talk with the man's behavior out on the court. Putting away the handcuffs, Mest checked the time on his wristwatch before looking at the blonde fat man, and running a tired hand through his short black hair tiredly,

"Look. I need to run out and keep an eye on the arena so I'm gonna ask you to leave and not cause another commotion. And don't even try touching Lucy again – it's for the best. For you especially."

"That's her name? Pathetic. I'll definitely get my revenge on her." Mest sighed audibly as the obese man muttered things he would do once he gets his hands on her.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

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In the crisp morning hours at eight, Duke Everlue leaned back into his cozy chair after an eventful night at the basketball arena. Of course, he dared not to allow the little girl to go unscathed after he had been humiliated. After the game, he had hired investigators to find out everything about the girl – in which he had scheduled a meeting time with them in two hours. A knock resounded on his bedroom door and he called them in. A maid with the daily newspaper.

"For you sir." She spoke carefully, offering the newspaper and a small envelope – after this, she left the room quickly. Curiosity got the best of him and he reached forward, pushing the mail to the side and grabbing the newspaper.  
Suddenly, it got incredibly hard to breath. Sweat started to form on the edge of his forehead and he reached clumsily to wipe it away with the sleeves of his shirt. It felt like someone kicked him in the gut repeatedly as his eyes read the headline that made such an impact on his being.

_**"DUKE EVERLUE ATTACKS HEARTFILIA HEIRESS."**_

There in vivid colors was a picture of him leering over the seats and gripping the blonde female by her shoulder. Judging by the zoom of the picture, the grip of his fingers digging into her skin was clearly seen. His mouth fell open in a silent scream.

That girl? He had no idea that she was the sole daughter of the Heartfilia Corporate. The Heartfilia establishment that ran numerous companies and also was well known in Fiore of its strict business capabilities. It was also last week that he had just briefly met with the head of one of the twelve branches, Capricorn, to discuss the future of both of their businesses, in which Capricorn immediately declined the subject after 5 minutes into the meeting without any signs of remorse or hesitation.

Suddenly, his eyes wondered to the mail that sat idly. Reaching forwards and clasping the paper into his hands, it was addressed to him with a seal with an image of a dragon. Confused as he had not seen such a symbol before, he opened the envelope and pulled out the letter.

And that is when the symbol of the dragon circulated in his memory.

It was the Dragon Slayers logo encrusted onto the letter as well. It only had a few words written in red ink. Duke Everlue couldn't tell whether it was entirely ink or… _blood_. A photograph flew out after he had opened the letter, fluttering to the ground. After picking it off the floor, his breath hitched. It was a photo of him sitting on his cozy leather chair by the window where he was a few minutes ago. His eyes darted to the words written,

**"I didn't get the chance to introduce myself last night, Sir Duke Everlue. My name is Natsu Dragneel, leader of the Dragon Slayers. I'm afraid you have committed an unforgivable sin of touching my princess.**

**-Punk with pink hair."**

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**(Later that night)**

Lucy smacked her pillow onto her best friend as he scrambled towards her in an attempt to gather her in his arms. The blonde laughed at his silly antics until she couldn't breathe. Eventually, the pinkette finally managed to pluck his confused body off the ground and tacked her onto her large bed.  
They both had spun so many times and played tag whilst being dangerously dizzy.

Lucy's dad had left a few hours ago for a business trip, therefore letting Natsu know that Lucy would need some much needed company, as he trusted Natsu as much as his daughter did. Ever since then, Natsu had promptly showed up at her doorstep dressed in a sleeveless black shirt and matching gym pants with an overnight bag slung over his shoulder and two boxes of pizza with a bag of drinks.  
The blonde girl was fairly surprised to greet him at the door wearing nothing more than a sports bra and leggings. She failed to hide her surprise when she opened her door to a pink-haired male breathing tiredly and sweat dripping.

"Gimme a sec – Running from the gym to grab pizza and coming to yours was harder than I thought." He heaved. "I swear the plan sounded much better in my head."

It was safe to say that Lucy might not be able to breathe properly due to the weight of her best friend on top of her form after their little game.

"You crazy dragon." Lucy breathed out, as they just stayed exactly as they were until Natsu lazily rolled off to let the girl sigh in satisfaction. He propped his form on an elbow and grinned down at the blonde,

"Your crazy dragon." He corrected and the girl rolled her eyes at his words. Trust Natsu to turn things like that. She trundled to the edge of her bed. Her hands searched for the remote of her flat screen on the floor before turning it on-

_"Report of the sudden death of Sir Duke Everlue has just arrived. Duke Everlue's body had been found with his left arm detached from his shoulder sockets. Investigations are followed as there had been no suspects yet and Police have yet to confirm the cause of-"_

"Natsu..." The blonde said warningly as she turned her head to glare at the pinkette who had looked away the moment her brown orbs darted accusingly to where he laid.

"Luce." The male responded, but the blonde can see the sweat rolling down his temple and she knew damn well it wasn't from their earlier craze antics.

"Natsu…." Lucy spoke once more, switching the news to mute and rolling to him until her head lay directly beneath his, resting just at the crook of his shoulder and chest. He looked down with shock before turning to look elsewhere than down,

"Natsu. Look at me."

"..." Lucy watched as the boy swallowed slowly, the apple in his throat rolled ever so slowly and she fixed her eyes on him.

"Natsu. I said look at me."

"…hm." The both of them knew that Natsu could never say no to Lucy. It was a well-known fact and even if Natsu didn't like something or Lucy asked with those doe brown eyes of hers, the both of them knew that Natsu was wrapped around her little finger. He would do all anything without hesitation.  
Slowly, the male turned his head down to look at the blonde beneath him.

"Natsu. Why did you do that?" Her eyes watched as the teen above her dipped down suddenly and kissed her forehead gracefully. A blush formed onto her cheeks and her face began to feel impossibly hot. It was so unfair that after all that time, her insides turn to mush with every little affection the boy makes.

"I'll never allow anyone to touch you without permission." Lucy blinked,

"Permission? Natsu, there's no such thing with you." The blonde replied matter-of-factly. The pinkette let out a light chuckle before rolling on top of her. Slowly sliding his hands down her arms until they reached her hands, gripping them tightly, he used one hand to pin both of hers above her head and he looked at her with a smirk,

"That's the point, Luce. No one touches you. Except me." The red hue on the blonde turned into a darker shade.

"I know you're my boyfriend and all but Natsu-"Her breath hitched and her sentence was cut as the male latched his mouth onto neck. To her most sensitive parts. His other hand trailed to her stomach. Lingering dangerously around her navel and ghosting its way up to the swell of her breasts.

"You talk too much." He breathed against her, sending exciting shivers to course the inside of her skin.

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**You know what guys, I'm starting to work myself into lemons. Slowly. But surely. I think I just might start writing a lemony one-shot.**

**B7K**


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